After Juan's surgery on the 12th, his partner and I went to visit him daily during his stay in the hospital. He spent the the remainder of the 12th all of the 13th and some of the 14th in CCU.
CCU was very nice. All of the nurses were attentive and pleasant and I felt as though Juan was being well taken care of even though he had had minimal contact with his surgeon and had still not been informed of the cancer. I will be the first to admit that I was not there around the clock and Juan's memory was a little hazy- it's also not like the old days when you can pick up a patients chart and see what has been written down- everything is done on a well guarded computer so I can't say with any degree of certainty that the doctor had not told Juan of the cancer, but if he did he not tell him while he was lucid.
It was the 14th when Juan was moved from CCU to a semi private room on the fourth floor and to all of our surprise, the fourth floor is a super secret place that is not even mentioned in the hospital directory. Imagine our shock, and his, when the elevator doors opened to a big sign that said ONCOLOGY. Really? Cause there for while I was thinking that I had been the one with the morphine drip and had hallucinated this whole cancer thing..
The semi private room was so small. There was little room for visitors or staff- it was unbearably sad listening to the man in the other bed and it wasn't just his moaning, it was his conversation with a nurse about how the hospital had misplaced his CPAP machine when he had been moved to this room. Luckily, that was not my problem and Juan seemed to be doing as good as could be expected. He was in intense pain from the invasive surgery, still wasn't clear on what had been done to him and by now his partner and I really could offer him no new news as we had had none.
Due to the confinement in the room and Juan nodding off from the narcotics dripping into his veins we didn't stay too long that visit. We promised to be back the next day, Friday and said our good nights.
The 15th came and we were planning the trip to Augusta (35 miles or so) when Juans partner got a phone call from the hospital saying that the doctor had ordered him released. What? He still had a catheter, they had not put the "port" in (I know nothing about that other than it was something that was supposed to have been done) and only 18 hours or so earlier he was nearly bed ridden with his morphine drip- how could he be ready to be discharged? None the less, we headed to Augusta to pick him up.
For the rest of my life (or at least the average career length of a nurse at Maine General) I have to be very VERY careful never to be in a car accident or anything that will land me in that hospital because I am quite sure that in the nurses lounge there is a dartboard with my picture taped to it by now... but moving on, it was now probably 6PM and I sent Juan's partner in to see him hoping that I could have a chat with the charge nurse. I was very nice ( I was! ) but I told her that I wanted to make it known that I disagreed with the discharge orders. She looked puzzled. I told her, Juan and his partner live out in the sticks - in an emergency it is 45 minutes for an ambulance to get there. His bedroom is upstairs, and you can't even drive to the house- it is a long walk from the driveway. I also told her, his partner is 77 years old, there will be no one else home and I don't know that she is capable of taking care of him. His dressings would need to be changed, his catheter taken care of (didn't ask, don't want to know what that involves) and the nurse just looked at me like I was the biggest bitch she had ever met for questioning his discharge. I tried to explain to her that without the morphine drip he could be a handful and his partner is not always "with it" She said to me, and I quote "We can't change peoples personalities" I told her I understood that but wanted it on record that I objected to his release.
The charge nurse then went to Juan's room and asked him if he was ready to go home and of course he said yes- he had been planning it for the last couple of hours and the man in the bed next to him had just been released so naturally he felt ready to go- the charge nurse then asked his partner if she was capable of taking care of him and she sheepishly, as to not offend or cause controversy said yes, and with that I was escorted to the waiting room while the nurse showed Juan's partner how to take care of him.
About 30 minutes later a social worker shows up at the waiting room. She was very nice but she had obviously been called there to "quell the situation" and I had to start from the beginning again with why I objected to this happening. She did make it clear that it was not my place to make the decision, which I do understand, but I made it clear that NO ONE should make the decision without first checking the facts, such as, is home in an urban or rural location? Do you have an extended walk to get inside? Will there be competent people at home to care for you? Simple questions that to me, should be on a form on the discharge papers and signed off on by the patient and his caregivers- but they aren't.
After some time with the social worker and her really not being able to make a valid argument, she excused her self and came back to tell me that she had spoken to Juan and without mentioning me, recommended that a home health care nurse come by daily and help him, and he agreed, did I? Yes, at minimum, I agree. Thank you! For the first time since the ordeal started I felt like someone actually listened to pathetic insignificant me! With that, the nurses disconnected Juan's IV, gave him an appointment card with a time to see his doctor, in his office , for Monday, for follow up and to have the catheter removed, they then loaded him into a wheelchair and rolled him out to the parking lot said "good-by and good luck". (They may have mumbled something to me but I am pretty sure it was not luck )
Juan's partner drove him home, I went too to make sure he got inside and situated. He asked me if I was staying for the fireworks and a few other really loopy things and then apologized repeatedly for not being in his right mind. I left for my own home 45 miles away, the home heath nurse came Saturday and Sunday and all was well, or as well as could be expected.
Now I have my own opinion about why Juan was released late Friday afternoon, but I would really like to hear what others think... after reading this story and the 2 previous ones about Juan's doctor... does anyone smell anything fishy here?
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